Method of refinishing old furniture



c. ROMAN 2,488,068

METHOD OF REFINISHING OLD FURNITURE Nov. 15, 1949 Filed April 8, 1949J71 0671 for, C/zaries Pomazz Patented Nov. 15, 1949 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 2,488,068 METHOD OF REFINISHING OLD FURNITURE CharlesRoma-n, Miami, Fla. Application April 8, 1949, Serial No. 88,847 6Claims. (01. 51-282) The commonly accepted and most widely practicedmethods of refinishin painted, varnished or lacquered furniture to againrestore the grain of the wood to visibility is to first remove thepaint, lacquer or varnish with varnish remover, inone or more steps andtothen sand-paper the surface to such a degree as to expose the originalwood. The cleansing of the wood is continued until as much of the paint,lacquer or varnish, as possible, is removed andthe sand-papering iscarried right down-to the raw wood. is still'darker than desired, byreason of penetrating stains having been applied to it, .it may bebleached. The wood is then re-finished in the usual and conventional wayby the application of lacquers or varnishes, fillers or stains, in anydesired order and by these methods a fairly good job of restoring thevisibflity of the original grain of any wooden object and especially ofold furniture has been had.

However, under the method above described some of the old finishingmaterial such as the filler, lacquer o r varnish originally employed,still clings in the pores and the softer (cellulosic) portions of thegrain. My method differs from the procedure above described in that Isandblast the surface to be treated, as presently set forth. Bysand-blasting I am not only able to If the wood expose the originalsurface of the wood with a minimum of labor and cost but I am able torout out of the pores and recesses delineating the grain, every particleof foreign matter constituting the original finishing coatings. Further,I am able to accentuate the original grain because the sand-blast whenjudiciously and carefully applied at the right pressure cuts out thecellulosic portions of the wood faster than it does the hard or ligneousportions (lignin) I have found that by judicious selection of thetexture and size of the sand granules or other abrasive material, andwith practice and use of the proper air pressure and by holding theblasting nozzle at the proper distance from the work, I can safelyremove the finish from and restore to a condition for refinishing, thesurfaces of very thin wood veneer. Since most furniture of the moreexpensive types, such as mahogany, walnut and the like, is veneered itfollows that my method makes it possible to restore to a condition ofgreat beauty many valuable pieces of furniture which would otherwise bea loss.

In addition, by my method I am able to impart to the cheaper grades ofwood such, as for example, poplar, gum, fir and the like which have, intheir natural state, little if any visible grain,

2 a very decided grain of such beauty as to cause these cheaper woods,when subsequently finished, to rival in beauty the more expensive woods.This is due to the fact above recited that when gently sand-blasted inthedirection of the length of the grain, the-softer or cellulosic partof the wood yields much more rapidly than the lignin and this quicklyproduces a pronounced grain characteristic of the particular wood beingtreated and differing from other woods.

' While the degree of fineness of the sand and the amount of airpressure employed varies somewhat with the hardness of the woods and theruggedness of the piece being worked upon, i. e., whether solid orveneered, I have generally found that a fine sand discharged at apressure of from 20 to 85 pounds per square'inch will take care of mostjobs because the effectiveness of such blast may, as before stated, hemodified to some degree by varying the distance of the nozzle of theblasting machine from the work. However I find it desirable to maintainthe nozzle of the sandblasting machine a fairly uniform distance fromthe work and to control the effect by the degree of pressure employed.This is so because if the nozzle is held too far away the aim of theworker is not accurate and the blast is likely to cut across and destroythe lignin portions of the wood. Since the vast majority of the oldpieces of furniture to be restored are veneered with relatively highpriced veneers it is very important to so control the blast as not tocut through these veneers. The veneers encountered do not ordinarilyexceed a sixteenth of an inch in thickness.

After the old finish has been removed both from the surface and from thepores the wood may be bleached or not according to its color andaccording to the final finish desired. The wood being then dry andclean, I refinish it in any desired fashion. For example, I may applyone or several coats of lacquer in any color. After this has dried,Iapply a coat of glaze or filler which contrasts in color with the firstapplied lacquer and when this coating of glaze or filler is partiallyset it is wiped off except for what remains in the pores or depressionsof the grain. When this coat of glaze or filler is dry one or two finishcoatings of clear lacquer or varnish or,

wax are applied to impart any sheen (gloss, semigloss or fiat) to thefinished piece of furniture or other article. While I have placedparticular emphasis upon the refinishing of old furniture because of thegreat adaptability of the method to use in the cleaning out of theoriginal grain of very thin veneer, I have found that this method I tothe article.

is also of great utility in the refinishing of wood carvings whererepeated applications of paint, varnish or the like have filled anddestroyed the fine lines which gave much of the original beauty Forexample, I have refinished decorative screens, the panels of whichpresented a multiplicity of intertwined leaves and tendrils in theoriginal carving. Not only was the outside shape of the leaf presentedbut fine lines were present in the carving representing the veins of theleaves. these fine lines had been completely filled and nothing was leftbut the bare outside shapes of the leaves and this in a dark brown,almost black, varnish stain. When refinished by my method to present alight silvery appearance this screen again became a thing of beauty withthe delicate tracery of the veins of the leaves restored. It would havebeen utterly impossible to have accomplished this result with ordinarysand-papering because sand-papering would have left the veins of theleaves filled with the original finishing materials. Further manyportions of such carvings are inaccessible to successful manualoperation. The marked advance presented by my method is illustrated inslight measure in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a photographic reproduction of a piece of mahogany veneer, theleft hand end showing old finish, the central section showing thesandblasted surface from which the old finish has been completelyremoved and the right hand end showing the finished surface in which thegrain has been accentuated;

Fig. 2 is a like view in which the wood treated is oak veneer having anoriginal finish of mission oak and;

Fig. 3 is a like view in which the wood treated is a piece of solid gumshowing little grain in the left hand old finish section, showing morepronounced grain in the central sand-blasted section and showing markedand attractive grain characteristics in the right hand finished end towhich a coating of light colored lacquer has been applied.

While I have described the coatings applied to the finished product asbeing lacquers or varnishes, glazes or fillers, it is to be understoodthat the invention resides primarily in the sand-blasting of grainedveneers to remove old surface coatings, completely clean the grain fromall particles of old finishing materials and, if desired, in addition,to accentuate the grain beyond its original or normal condition, byenlarging the pores or depressions beyond their normal state. Further,the invention resides in thus sand-blasting new woods of the cheapergrades to so accentuate their grained characteristics as to cause themto rival in appearance and beauty more expensive woods. Therefore, Iwish it to be understood that While the coatings described yield a verybeautiful product of a two-toned effect the invention contemplates anyof the finishing steps commonly employed in the wood-finishing art,whether the coatings be lacquers, enamels, stains, fillers, varnishes,shellacs, or otherwise.

I have referred to the sand as being fine sand. I may state that assupplied to the trade for sand- In repeated paintings of the screen 4 myabandoned application Serial Number 736,030, filed March 20, 1947.

Sandblasting is an old art. It has been used on metal, stone, brick,castings, numerous other things and even on wood such as the sides ofold houses where fine work was not required. However, I believe that Iam the first to "tame" or adapt sand-blasting to the removal of embeddedfinishes from fine furniture without destroying the furniture in theprocess. Sandblasting is usually done at relatively high pressures. Suchpressures do no damage to the side of a house, the side of a steel boat,or a plank of wood, but the results on fine furniture are different andquite considerably different when delicate carvings, turnings andextremely thin veneers and even when soft, delicately grained, solidwoods are en countered. The high spots on fine, solid wood turnings willinvariably be worn away and the shape distorted by high pressures, andthin veneers are often worn through. It is in such instances that mytechnique of pressure regulation and sand grain selection enables" me toremove firmly embedded finishes from fine furniture without damage tothe wood grain, veneer, and without distortion of the shape of thefurniture.

Veneers are of various thicknesses. Crossbanding or subveneers, thoselying beneath the top veneer, are usually from one-twentieth inch toone-eighth inch. Such veneers are usually of cheaper grades of lumbersuch as poplar or gum.

blasting purposes, sand is delivered in three grades, namely fine,medium and coarse and in handling the thin and tender veneers the finegrade is used so that it will enter the small pores of the veneer grain.

This application is a continuation-in-part of However, the U. S.standard for furniture face veneers is one-twenty-eighth inch. Thisveneer, after scraping and sanding, is usually somewhere nearone-fortieth inch. Such veneer, as may well be imagined is very easilydestroyed by high pressure blasting and by coarse sand. Of course, thereare instances wherein surface veneers onesixteenth inch thick are used.Such veneers after sanding are reduced to one-twentieth inch or less.Even such thicker veneer is easily destroyed by high pressures andcoarse sand.

Veneers and their thicknesses are not, however, the only considerationsin finish removal. In the case of carved, or plain, solid wood furnitureit is possible to obtain only a rough surface with the standard blastingprocedure. To obtain a smooth surface it is necessary to reduce thepressure to a point until only the finish isremoved and the wood grainremains smooth. This point of pressure varies according to the wood, thefinish and the complexity of the furniture encountered.

The demand for light, bleached furniture is the rage. A great deal offine furniture is done in very dark finishes. To refinish such furniturein light, bleached finishes in the regular manner is tedious, slow andexpensive. Regardless of how well the varnish removing is done byconventional methods and without sandblasting there are still many oils,stains and resins remaining in the wood grains. When it is attempted toremove these, several applications, (two to four) of bleach must beapplied and each application thoroughly brushed into the wood. Bleachesare water soluble and are slow in penetrating the wood. Even after thistreatment it often happens that the recesses remain dark. In contrast tothis standard procedure my technique of using low pressure blasting withfine sand easily accomplishes the removal of the old finish, slightlybreaks the wood surface and enables the bleach to penetrate more deeplyinto the wood. Any slight abrasion of the wood from the blasting isremoved by the wetting and swelling action of the v bleach. Sandpaperingafter drying of the wood results in a smooth surface to which is easilyapplied the customary procedures or wood finishing. I find oneapplication of bleach is sufficient in my process and no dark spotsremain in the recesses because the sand penetrates into the finestcorners.

For most furniture finished with the standard veneers, I find pressuresbetween 20 and 65 pounds to be the best and safest, according to thenature of the wood being treated. Pressures in the lower ranges, to wit:from 20 to 50 pounds per square inch yield clean, smooth surfaces withthe varnish completely routed out. As the pressures get higher the finalfinish becomes progressively rougher but with the advantage that theresultant slight breaking of the surface opens the way for the bleach toget at and remove stubbon patches of deeply embedded stains. oils,resins, etc.

I claim:

1. A method of refinishing old furniture having a thin veneer surfacewhich veneer is finished with a surface coating of varnish some of whichis embedded in the pores of the wood of the veneer, which consists ofprojecting against said surface coating a blast of fine, dry abrasiveparticles and a carrier fluid at a pressure of from 20 to 65 pounds persquare inch so as to remove said varnish coating from the surface of theveneer and also from the pores and limiting the application of the blastso as to avoid cutting through the veneer.

2. A method of refinishing old furniture having a thin veneer surfacingwhich veneer is finished with a surface coating of varnish some of whichis embedded in the pores of the wood of the veneer, which consists ofprojecting against said surface coating a blast of fine, dry abrasiveparticles and air at a pressure of approximately 20 pounds per squareinch so as to remove said varnish coating from the surface of the veneerand also from the pores and limiting the application of the blast so asto avoid cutting through the veneer.

3. A method of refinishing old furniture having a surface layer which iscovered with a surface coating of hard varnish and filler some of whichis embedded in the pores of the wood of the veneer, which methodconsists of projecting a blast of fine sand and air against said surfacecoating at such pressure and through such period of time as to removethe varnish and filler both from the surface and from the pores of thewood while limiting such pressure to not to exceed pounds to the squareinch.

4. A method as recited in claim 3 wherein the application of the blastis continued to a degree to enlarge the pores of the wood and therebyaccentuate the grain beyond its state when originally finished.

5. A method of refinishing grained woods which have previously hadvarnish and filler applied thereto to fill the pores of the wood and tobring the surface to a smooth and glossy condition, which methodconsists of lightly sandblasting the surface of the wood with fine sandand air at pressures of from 20 to 65 pounds per square inch throughsuch period of time as to clean oi! the surface coating of varnish andto rout the hard varnish and filler out of the pores of the grain butwithout destroying the lignin which delineatesthe grain.

6. A method of refinishing grained woods which have previously hadstains, varnish and filler applied thereto to fill the pores of the woodand to bring the surface to a smooth and glossy condition, which methodconsists of lightly sandblasting the surface of the wood with fine sandand air at 'a pressure of not to exceed 65 pounds per square inchthrough such period of time as to clean off the surface coating ofvarnish and to rout the hard varnish and filler out of the pores of thegrain but without destroying the lignin which delineates the grain, thepressures employed being suflicient to slightly roughen the surface ofthe wood in the pores to permit the more ready penetration of ableaching material in the removal of stubborn remaining stains.

CHARLES ROMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 446,961 Bryce Feb. 24, 1891607,825 Burger July 26, 1898 2,345,942 Lehman Apr. 4, 1944

